Government

When people run for office, they solicit and receive campaign contributions from people in many lines of work. It can cost a lot of money to run for public office. But what are the expectations once the election is over? Is it realistic to expect someone who makes a major contribution to a candidate to stand back for four years and expect that elected official to do what the contributor thinks is the right thing? Is it OK for the office holder to meet regularly with the contributor to review legislation that directly affects the contributor?

Barack Obama had a choice between liberalism and the Democratic Party. He chose the latter and it cost him dearly. Liberalism, as an ideology, insists that government can do good and great things for the people and the world, if the people running the government are smart liberals.The Democratic Party says the exact same thing. But liberalism is an ideal, while the Democratic Party is that ideal's representative here in the real world, and in the real world political parties disappoint.

It is refreshing to finally see some politicians really keep their campaign promises ( "Congress steers government toward shutdown," Sept. 30). Many members of Congress ran for office promising less government. With the recent federal government shutdown, this is one campaign promise that they actually kept. Iver Mindel, Cockeysville

The spokesman for the Baltimore City Fire Department said Friday he is leaving city government to move to D.C. because his wife has accepted a new job. "It is a bittersweet moment for us," said Ian Brennan, who was previously a press secretary for Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. "I am proud of my wife for taking this step forward in her career, but it is sad to leave the city we love -- the city where our children were born. " In addition to working for Rawlings-Blake, Brennan also served as a spokesman for Mayor Sheila Dixon.

Outside of her writings on food, I am far from being a fan of Susan Reimer 's columns. But in regard to her column titled, "The teenagers are in charge of our government," (June 20), she not only expresses my sentiment, but came up with a very apt analogy. I remember the times when - despite party or politics - not only those in charge of the agencies but the civil servants themselves prided themselves on their knowledge, understanding and obligations those agencies held for every citizen.

I find it unbelievable that the cost for the 2010 census is estimated at just under $15 billion. A quick calculation shows that the cost translates to almost $50 per U.S. citizen. In this day of number crunching and data mining, this per capita cost seems excessive. I am sure if this process were placed under bid by private contractors, a less costly and more efficient process would ensue. This government endeavor only provides fodder for those who condemn government services. Chris Shane, Towson

Dan Rodricks wonders why Americans are angry and what they want ("Angry Americans: What do you want?" Oct. 5). They want responsible government that addresses are nation's debt, energy, entitlement and immigration issues. They do not want a government that has time to bring comedians to Washington to testify on the issues of the day. They do not want to subside their neighbors cars (Cash for Clunkers, $8 billion) homes (mortgage assistance $75 billion) or healthcare (Obamacare $1 trillion)

No second chances Bill Shaikin Los Angeles Times No. Roger Clemens essentially was charged with failing to play by the rules. The justice system cannot work properly if people do not tell the truth, and Clemens was alleged to have lied — at great risk, because the government would not have prosecuted him for illegal use of steroids but would prosecute for perjury. However, the government has to play by the rules too. It is difficult to believe the prosecutors intentionally defied a judge's order, but they nonetheless failed to play by the rules.

I was glad to see Dan Rodricks mention Congress as a culprit in his column about economic inequality ("Millionaires versus millennials," Nov. 15). Not just Wall Street but both political parties will have to be held accountable if the "99 percent" expect to see any progress. As I wrote in a recent letter to U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Maryland seems to have a multitude of rules, regulations and other methods to deny poor people the help they need. I say this from first hand experience, having lived below the poverty level the past two years.

Please stop repeating the Republicans' lie about distrusting government ("Obama's downsized ambitions," Sept. 9). The Republican party loves government, as long as it does what they approve of - like sending armies to the other side of the world, subsidizing farmers and corporations, and enforcing morality laws. The only government they hate is the one that helps ordinary citizens and prevents corporations from poisoning the air and water for profit. B. Lawrence Hurlbut

Last week, Gannett Co. Inc., owner of The Daily Times in Salisbury, filed a lawsuit in Worcester County Circuit Court to force Ocean City to release the name of a 17-year-old drowning victim from Parkville. A number of the newspaper's readers have already expressed outrage at the litigation, with one letter writer describing it as "wrong, just plain wrong" and others questioning what possible public interest is served by knowing the name, particularly given that the victim's family has specifically asked that it not be released.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans say they have trust in federal employees , a spike in public confidence that some are attributing to last year's partial government shutdown. In a recent Battleground Poll by George Washington University, 22 percent of registered voters surveyed said they had "a lot" of confidence in federal workers , and 51 percent said they had "some. " The public's confidence in the federal workforce waned in 2012 and 2013 after scandals involving the Internal Revenue Service and the General Services Administration but rebounded after the shutdown last October.

Maryland's decision to join a handful of states that allow undocumented immigrants the chance to obtain driver's licenses was a pragmatic one designed to keep residents safe. Border security, deportation policy and pathways to citizenship are not within Maryland's purview, but ensuring that drivers on the road are competent, that their vehicles are registered and that they purchase insurance are the state's responsibility. The establishment of a two-tiered license system here - in which those who cannot document their immigration status are allowed the chance to obtain a license valid for driving but not purposes like getting on airplanes or entering federal buildings - was simply a rational response to the twin facts that some hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants live in Maryland and that by necessity they will drive whether we like it or not. The policy is of a piece with others the state has adopted in recent months.

Hopes for redevelopment of the former Sparrows Point steel mill in Baltimore County - and the promise of new jobs - took two giant strides forward Thursday as the land was sold to a new owner who also reached agreement with state and federal environmental agencies on a cleanup plan for the polluted site. The massive former Bethlehem Steel facility was shuttered two years ago and auctioned off in a bankruptcy-law proceeding to salvage companies. The land has now been sold for an undisclosed amount to Sparrows Point Terminal, an offshoot of the Hanover-based investment firm Redwood Capital Investments LLC. Under terms of an agreement announced Thursday with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Department of the Environment, Redwood Capital will commit $48 million to clean up the property's land and groundwater, and pay $3 million to the EPA to investigate issues in the water surrounding Sparrows Point.

Gary Sullivan's commentary defending the actions of the National Security Agency is full of faulty arguments ( "Too much of a good thing," Aug. 27). First of all, the Fourth Amendment is the law and was established at the time of this country's founding. No one needs to "get out and vote" in order to be protected by it from government spying. In any case, the NSA's policies were kept secret so no one could have voted to support or oppose them in the first place. To those who are concerned about the NSA violating their privacy, Mr. Sullivan offers nothing more than the empty, self-serving claim that the NSA is too busy saving our lives to do so. The NSA is a massive organization staffed by human beings.

A ruling by a federal judge in a lawsuit filed by federal employees over the government shutdown last fall has given the workers hope that they could soon be eligible for a payout. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Chief Judge Patricia Campbell-Smith declined to dismiss the lawsuit brought by some 2,000 workers who were deemed essential during the during the 16-day shutdown. The plaintiffs worked through the shutdown but didn't get paid on time for their labor. Campbell-Smith wrote in an opinion that the federal government violated the Fair Labor Standards Act, but she didn't go as far as saying that the government needed to pay the plaintiffs.

I am a classic FDR liberal. I believe government (at least in domestic policy) has been a force for good. President Roosevelt put in place economic institutions such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, which provided the stability for our post World War II economic boom. He saw that only big federal government could be a countervailing force against the excess risks taken by big business. In 1980 Roland Regan sold us on the premise that government is the problem, that it is an impediment to the creative energies of private enterprise.

I agree with Christopher Winslow's letter decrying the attempt to reinstitute Baltimore City's speed cameras ( "Baltimore should not resurrect speed cameras," Aug. 26). They have never been about safety, only revenue. If nothing else, they offer perverse incentives to our esteemed politicians, who seem delighted to take money from citizens and visitors and send a good chunk of it to out-of-town vendors. I've not seen a shred of evidence that the cameras serve their intended purpose.

Federal auditors looking into Maryland's flawed health insurance exchange are subpoenaing documents as part of their probe and have sought information from the lead contractor hired by the state to build the site. North Dakota-based Noridian Healthcare Solutions, the former prime contractor with a multimillion-dollar deal to design Maryland's online insurance marketplace, received a request for documents related to the project from the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on July 30, the company's president said Tuesday.